The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector having an improved Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) shielding.
An electrical connector is often used for connecting a printed circuit board (PCB) with an electronic device for transmitting signals. A conventional connector generally includes a dielectric housing having a plurality of terminal-receiving cavities or passages, with a plurality of terminals received in the passages. A metal shield surrounds a substantial portion of the housing to protect at least the mating portions of the terminals from RF interference and Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) as well as protecting the surroundings from interference radiating from the connector itself. The connector is mounted to the PCB, and the terminals have tail portions for connection, as by soldering, to circuit traces on the PCB. Such a connector often have hooks to hold the connector to the PCB, and such hooks have been provided by separate components, independent of the housing or the shield of the connector, to perform the function.
However, a problem of such structures is that the shield could not achieve a complete EMI shielding due to gaps between the shield and the PCB. Furthermore, these separate hooks cause problems in significantly increasing the fabrication and assembly costs of the connectors.
Hence, an electrical connector with an improved shielding is required to overcome the disadvantage of the prior art.
A main object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having an improved conductive shielding performing a complete Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) shielding function.
Another object is to provide an electrical connector having a conductive shielding integrated with hooks to perform a multitude of functions by a one-piece structure.
An electrical connector according to the present invention for mounting to a printed circuit board (PCB) includes a dielectric housing having a mating portion and a mounting portion, a plurality of terminals received in the housing, and a shell shielding the housing including a first shielding surrounding the mating portion and a second shielding engaging with the mounting portion.
The second shielding is electrical connected with the first shielding and has an elongated shielding plate attached to a front surface of the mounting portion and a pair of holding legs extending from two ends of the shielding plates, the holding legs respectively attaching to two side surfaces of the mounting portion and extending downwardly to plug in the PCB. By this structure, the Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) shielding is complete.